Character Quote by Roy Kesey

I'm not thinking much about overall themes or preoccupations or anything like that. Instead I'm just trusting that, if I'm working hard, various notions…

— George Saunders

I wanted to do a collection where the narrator is constant throughout, so that there's a little unity.

— Arthur Bradford

'Seize the Story' takes readers all the way through the process of writing fiction, from beginning to end. Every element, from dialogue to setting,…

— Victoria Hanley

Every story I write starts with a dilemma or a theme. Once I am convinced that this is the issue that is perturbing my…

— Siegfried Lenz

Nothing I force myself to write about ever turns out well, and so I've learned to wait for the voice, the incident, the image…

— Louise Erdrich

There's nothing more liberating about starting with something that is not written. You pretty much create the history of that character and that character's…

— IronE Singleton

I find it an easy way into writing pieces is to think what the character's voice is like, and start from there.

— Armando Iannucci

I use a lot of narration; I have a very prosaic style. I like to get you invested in the character first and do…

— Scott Snyder

I just wanted to compile these stories about growing up with my father and I wanted people to be able to enjoy them individually,…

— Justin Halpern

I'm not sure if a writer should talk about themes. Themes arrive out of the deeper structure and concerns, but to me, the main…

— David Means

Sometimes with good writers you don't spot the theme, but when you come away you realise there has been one.

— Prunella Scales

When anybody starts out with a memoir, you get the impulse to tell your own story with your own voice, and you get all…

— Dave Eggers